The right man can make a good job out of any job, someone said. Clearly, writer-director Dharanidharan hasn’t read that quote. If he had, he might have thought twice before casting ‘Metro’ Shirish as this film’s lead character. Shirish plays Raja, a beat officer who is supposed to be caught in the middle of an intriguing murder mystery. He is also the film’s biggest problem.
Watch out for his reaction when he’s walked right into a murder scene (of a woman whom he considers his ‘philosopher and guide’) in which he is also possibly a suspect. There’s no remorse. Nor is there restlessness. Shirish’s search for a variety of expressions is as futile as the cops’ search for the mystery killer.
Raja Ranguski does admittedly have some ambition in the storyline; it is somewhat interesting that a technique employed by Raja to woo his love interest Ranguski (named after late writer Sujatha's pet name) is used against him. Raja has to get out of this mess — which primarily takes place inside a gated community — and to do that, he has to use a lot of brain and some brawn.
- Genre: Thriller
- Cast: Shirish, Chandini, Vinoth, Jayakumar
- Storyline: A beat officer is caught in the middle of a murder mystery
This is a film that tries to travel in the lines of the recent gripping thrillers in Kollywood, but is let down by poor acting and commercial compromises. A kuthu song is planted right in the middle of a chase sequence. It reminded me a bit of the ‘Neruppe’ number in Kamal Haasan’s Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu ; there, atleast the montages of the criminals getting away added to the story, while here, the lead pair prefers to stand and stare at the dancers for reasons best known to them.
Somehow, despite the impending tension, the actors don’t seem to panic. The big reveal in the end does make you sit up a bit, but doesn’t have the punch it ought to because it makes caricatures out of the police force and CB-CID. Even composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, who had a good outing in last month’s Pyaar Prema Kaadhal , is not in the best of form.
It’s left to Chandini, who gets a solid role as Ranguski, and ‘Kallori’ Vinoth, to liven up things, which they try sincerely. However, Raja Ranguski repeats tropes used quite recently in Tamil cinema — in films like Thani Oruvan and Maanagaram — thus failing to keep you engaged.
